During eight years of bourgeois government, kindergarten prices have increased by NOK 9,900. Now Oslo’s Labor leader Raymond Johansen promises to cut the price and introduce a real maximum price for a kindergarten place.
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– It is wonderful to be a grandfather, states city council leader Raymond Johansen and gives his grandson Melvin at one year and eight months a real teddy bear hug.
Melvin will immediately move to a new kindergarten at Lindeberg in Groruddalen, where his grandfather also lived for a number of years. But when Johansen heard that his son and wife had to pay 3230 kroner a month for the kindergarten place, he was very surprised.
– Then I thought that sometimes it is the case that you sneak so quietly on your toes when you go out and rob, he says with a clear kick to the current government.
The price increased by 40 percent
Today, parents have to pay an average of NOK 9,900 more a year for a kindergarten place compared with 2013, when the bourgeois parties took over government power. This is an increase of 40 percent. Adjusted for the price increase, the increase is NOK 4,587 per year.
3230 kroner pr. month is the maximum amount kindergartens can take in parental payment in 2021.
– It’s quite a lot of money. We have noticed that a lot, says Raymond’s son, Sebastian Maira Johansen (29).
Like his father, he is politically active, and he is the leader of Alna Ap.
– If you have two kids in kindergarten, then there are almost 20,000 more a year. It has a great significance for families with children, Johansen senior adds.
– Breaks the kindergarten settlement
Raymond Johansen believes that the price development under Erna Solberg’s government breaks with the kindergarten agreement from 2003.
It was SV, Frp, Ap and Sp who at the time came together and introduced the statutory right to a kindergarten place and a maximum limit for parental payment. It was set at NOK 2,750 in 2004, and then reduced to NOK 2,250. The amount was to be price-adjusted, and was a so-called floating maximum price.
In the years 2007–2013, the Stoltenberg government chose to freeze the amount, which was then increased to NOK 2,330. As of 2014, the bourgeois government has chosen to increase prices every year. For several years, prices have risen more than wage and price inflation. This applies to the years 2014,2015, 2018 and 2021.
Had the bourgeois government only chosen to price-adjust the amount, a kindergarten place today would have cost 2813 kroner per. month today.
Raymond Johansen now promises that the Labor Party will introduce a real maximum price if the party regains power. The kindergarten price must also be cut.
–255 kroner less a month
The Labor Party has promised to cut the kindergarten price by 2800 kroner a year during the first 100 days in government, if the party wins the election. This will mean that the maximum price is reduced by 255 kroner a month to 2975 kroner.
Johansen says that he does not rule out that the kindergarten price will be reduced even more, but emphasizes: The most important thing is that the price that is set does not increase. Either by not adjusting the price in the future or by cutting further in the price.
– A maximum price must be a maximum price. The experience now is that prices have been quietly and carefully increased without there being any political focus on it, he says.
– Will it not be very expensive for the public at some point if you never have to be able to regulate prices?
– Then you can at least discuss what is a maximum price. A maximum price is not a maximum price if there is an increase of 9900 a year, says Johansen.
Melby: – Labor is unable to prioritize
Minister of Education Guri Melby (V) says in a comment that the maximum price has increased somewhat under the bourgeois government because it has prioritized those with the worst advice.
She points out that the Liberal Party in government has introduced free core time in kindergartens for children from low-income families. As a result, around 44,000 children are entitled to free core time in kindergarten, and approximately 56,000 children receive cheaper kindergarten.
– The rest of us pay more a month than eight years ago, but these are families with stronger finances, Melby says.
– This time we go to the election for a full-time place in kindergarten and SFO for all children from families with poor advice. Labor is not able to prioritize, but would rather spread the funds thinly, says Melby.
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